Extreme couponer keeps on delivering to city schools

Nicholas Persky stands with the first batch of coupon-acquired paper he donated to city schools.

Awhile back, we told you about Nicholas Persky, a San Francisco teen who loves coupons. (See story here.)

He is, by pretty much any definition, an extreme couponer who uses his couponing super powers to get free shampoo, free toothpaste, free soda, free candy, cornflakes and cold medicine.

And paper. Lots and lots of free paper, which he decided to donate to city schools.

When we first visited with Nicholas in May, the senior at Lick Wilmering High School was donating the free paper, 130 reams, to Bret Harte Elementary in the Bayview neighborhood.

It was a lot of paper — enough to fill two car trunks. The school was thrilled. Coming off years of budget cuts, the supplies fund had fallen short, with teachers purchasing their own paper or rationing it out as best they could.

Nicholas was taken aback by how grateful students and staff were.
“I didn’t know that office supplies could be that important,” he said at the time. “It’s just paper.”

At that moment, he decided to prioritize paper in his coupon quests, donating the proceeds to city schools.

Couponing is a hobby for the teen, one that requires complicated mathematical equations and frequent trips to office supply stores.

To date, he’s couponed his way to 450 reams of paper or well over a ton.

For a little perspective, 450 reams weighs about the same as a compact car and equals 225,000 pieces of paper, enough to hold 200 million words, typed single space.

There is, Nicholas said, “much, much more” still to come.

But for now, it’s enough to earn him a certificate of recognition from the San Francisco school board Tuesday.
“This donation of over one ton of copying paper to some of our neediest schools is a real gift,” said school board President Sandra Fewer. “As these schools struggle to provide a quality education on a meager budget, this allows them to offer more service to our students. It also has the bonus effect of the recognition that someone as young as this recognizes the need and cares enough to do something about it. How great is that?”